Creeping Sharia on the Tulsa PD?
Is it a case of anti-Muslim bigotry or a principled stand against creeping sharia? Is it insubordination on the part of a rebellious police officer, or is it simply a case of police department management being caught with their heads up their brass?
A Tulsa police captain is suing his department to regain his lost pay and assignment after he was suspended for two weeks and transferred for refusing to attend a “cultural event” at a Tulsa mosque. Captain Paul Fields, a 17-year veteran of the department and a devout Christian, informed his chief that he would not attend the event, billed as a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day,” to be held in March 2011 at the Islamic Cultural Society of Tulsa.
According to the lawsuit (PDF), in January 2011, Tulsa Deputy Police Chief Alvin Webster announced in a staff meeting that the event was upcoming and solicited volunteers to attend. In February 2011, an email regarding the event was sent to all Tulsa police officers. Attached to the email was a flier from the Islamic Society describing the event and inviting police officers to attend. When neither Captain Fields nor any of his subordinates responded to the invitation, a subsequent email was sent informing Fields that his attendance was no longer voluntary but mandatory, and that officers from each shift under his command were also expected to attend.
Capt. Fields responded with an email of his own, informing his superiors that he believed the order was unlawful as it violated his religious convictions and that he would not be attending. He also said he would not order any of his subordinates who held similar convictions to attend the event.
Efforts were made to persuade Capt. Fields to change his mind, but when he did not he was served with his transfer and suspension for failing to observe Rule 6 of the Tulsa Police Department Rules and Regulations – Duty to Be Truthful and Obedient.
Granted, while Capt. Fields, like any police officer, does indeed have a duty to be truthful and obedient, he should not have a duty to serve as a prop in the service of Muslim religious proselytizing and the advancement of Muslim political aims.
Perhaps with a change of government at the federal level and a couple of administrations looking at the world in the fullness of reality there will come a time when this kind of nonsense will stop.
We can only hope.
Seems to me that the captain was, in fact, flying in formation with the TPD rules of being truthful when he said he wouldn’t attend. As to obedient, the top brass has no authority to tell subordinates to attend a religious event in violation of the first amendment of the constitution. Not only is the officer likely going to win his lawsuit and emabarrass his chief, but more people need to take the same stand. Muslims are out to conquer this country “without firing a shot.” It’s no secret; they say so everywere and we will eventually have to push back, so if conflict is to come, let it start now.
Imagine you’ve taken Mr. Peabody’s “wayback machine” to the Cold War era. Now imagine a police chief ordering cops to attend a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” at the town’s Communist Party HQ, where they would be forced to endure several hours of Marxist harangues and recitations from The Communist Manifesto. Sound ridiculous? You’re right — it is. Well, this Muslim event was essentially the same thing. Kudos to Capt. Fields and the other “refuseniks.”
Mr. Dunphy correctly notes that all (not most) police honchos are politicians first, which makes them craven cowards in the face of PC bullying. Perhaps that was the motivation here. However, don’t exclude the possibility the chief took a bribe from the Muslims to compel attendance. Either way, both the chief and Deputy Chief Webster (who obviously would not have issued such an order without an OK from his boss) should be fired at once.
This incident is reminiscent of something very similar that happened several years ago in the Army. All soldiers were asked for a “voluntary” self-assessment of their foreign language skills. When few of them sent in the form, the Army turned around and made it mandatory. Further evidence of the ongoing militarization of law enforcement, which must be stopped.
NOT to place a too fine point on it, but my ‘Zionist Conservative’ blog site is rife with this issue.
For an appetizer read – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/08/12/dhimmitude-comes-to-the-us-stealthily-knocking-blowing-down-its-doors-a-nation-mostly-unawares-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/
If interested, just scroll down the HOME tab for the rest.
I take it as a positive sign that the Tulsa PD officers have become savvy enough about Islam that they instinctively realized they were being set up to be used as props by the local Imam at the mosque.
I will NEVER understand the “Oh, the Jihadis will kill everyone ELSE, but they WON’T kill US!” attitude that everyone seems to take when it comes to Islam, Taqiyya, Muruna, and Jihad.
It’s just like Dr. Will from Big Brother, where everyone else wants to convince themselves “Oh, he’s screwing everyone else over, but he won’t screw ME over!”
Wait…he had a chance to get intel and he didn’t do it? At least he could have used this as a chance to gain intelligence on them (layout of the mosque, put names to faces, figure out the hierarchy of the moon worshipers). This is policing 101. No wonder his bosses are pissed.
Oh I KNOW the excuse they were using “We need to form better community relationships” which he should have taken as “FIND OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT THESE CULTIST BEFORE THEY START BLOWING THINGS UP!”
But this is what happens when you have unions running things. As soon as anyone gets uncomfortable, the lawyers come out.
Listening to propaganda is not gathering intelligence; the propaganda is useless as to motives and goals, because it purposefully obscures them.
Are you serious?
As a veteran of government service I find it funny that part of the guiding principles for this department are to be ‘truthful AND obediant.’ In service there are often times when these two are impossible to do at the same time. You can either be truthful or you can be obedient.
If it were (as you say) “Capt. Fields … detecting sinister motives and refusing to participate,” he would have no claim. A lawful order to do something stupid remains both stupid and an order. Instead, his stated objection (and I would prefer to take him at his word) was against attending a religious event of a contrary faith. (Presumably he would have no objections to responding to an emergency situation in the mosque; it’s the mandatory participation that was the issue.)
TL;DR: I don’t think this is a “creeping sharia” issue, but a straight-forward religious freedom one.
When was the last time a police honcho ordered an underling to attend a Christian church?
Or any church, for that matter, on his own time.
It astounds me that something this blatant would occur so soon. Whatever happened to separation of church and state that the ACLU and liberals are always screaming at the top of their lungs? Since police departments are an arm of the “state”, how can they be allowed to do this? Another “executive order” from above?
islam is not a religion,it is a totalitarian political system. No police officer should be forced to participate in a political rally at a mosque.
I do believe that the LEO has a case based on seperation of religion from that of the state. It is pure hypocrisy to demand attendance to an Islamic event while banning such involvement if it had been at a Christian church.
Notice that Muslims, following the tactics developed by the homosexuals, are moving out of secure communities into areas that are more conservative christian as a means to colonize? The homosexuals moved out from NYC and SF to colonize every conservative community in the US. Now the Muslims are doing the same thing.
We are going to have to be better at understanding our own beliefs and then expressing them. This is a propaganda war (IO).
I live in Tulsa and will only say this.
Two years ago, the state of Oklahoma passed by a 70% vote a measure that would require that courts rely on federal or state laws when handing down decisions concerning cases, and would prohibit them from using international law or Sharia law when making rulings.
Naturally, one Federal judge ruled the measure unconstitutional. Trust me, this measure is not going away.
I will tell you with great confidence, the Tulsa P.D. brass is skating on thin ice and may soon find themselves not required. That may fly in Vermont, but their stance concerning this issue in Tulsa is about as popular as the clap.
And they were already poorly thought of before this event.
Hello
Here is the Tulsa police chief’s email address. His name is Chuck Jordan. Let him know how well you think he’s doing.
TPDChief@ci.tulsa.ok.us
Gary Marshall
We must learn to submit to our Islamic overlords. Or else.
Left/libtardist-influenced bureaucrats don’t realize the rule apply to them too… surprise, dolts, they do; can’t mandate appeasement against people’s religion even if it’s islamists whose butts you’re kissing.
The Tulsa police department and all other state and local police departments are under federal mandate to partner with local muslims to root out things that muslims do not like, such as being called islamic jihadists or calling something like the Ft. Hood massacre islamic jihad instead of the feds ‘workplace violence’. The current administration coddles islam in America and we should be fighting this as hard as we can. Islam is here to replace our Constitution and rule of law with shariah law and Obama is helping them achieve this end.
From the article:
“The Tulsa P.D. chief could have quietly put the word out that he needed some cops go down and break bread with the local jihadists for an hour or so, and that anyone who agreed to do so would be remembered favorably in the upper ranks of the department.”
What the police chief should have done is replied to the Muslims that “the Tulsa PD is a service to all civilians, regardless of race, religion or color and does not officially participate in activities of religious organizations in order to show an appearance of neutrality. Thank you very much”…….or something similar. The police chief is an idiot.
Please note- the non-Westerners have culture, traditions, faith, and even a social structure based on them.
Westerners are not believed to have any of these things.
They trivialized culture.
They questioned and finally banished with contempt, all their historical traditions.
Faith went the same way for the majority.
And as for social structure? Money determines it.
We have cut off our arms to spite our past. And now we’ll pay for it. In spades.
This man is defiant because he has some awareness that the West has had a historical identity, civilization, culture etc.
Very few Westerners show such awareness.
Dunphy will no doubt remember the LAPD police charity program in which arms were twisted and reprisals threatened if officers did not pledge a portion of their salaries to the United Way, an organization shown to be run by overpaid and occasionally corrupt officials. In a number of UW supported charities, it was clearly demonstrated that their aims were antagonistic to those of the officers and department, but, nevertheless, in the name of “support for community”, department employees were coerced into contribution. There is a marked resemblance to the current problem facing Tulsa PD. Dunphy knows whereof he speaks.
I’m not getting the religious freedom thing here. The Captain is not attending as a Christian or as a citizen, he is attending as a Captain in the police force which is clearly part of his job description. Does he not enforce the laws he doesn’t like or that are against his religion? Of course not. But when it comes to Islam, it’s suddenly okay to discriminate.
The event included a prayer service and a presentation about Islamic beliefs and human rights. He didn’t want to attend an event where people of another faith would be proselytizing when he wasn’t able to respond in kind.
I agree with Kowboy. Since when is it permissible for an employee of any organization to pick and choose what official organizational activities they will participate in on the basis of “religious freedom”? I should think that this police captain could have handled this situation more delicately and with some nuance, achieving the same goals, instead of flat out refusing to participate in an activity that is the part of the community he has presumably sworn to serve and protect. In any case “creeping sharia in Tulsa!” would appear to be something of an overstatement.
Would any police chief have ordered a Muslim officer to attend an event at a Christian church? Or a synagogue? Of course not.
As for “creeping sharia” — it proceeds in tiny steps, starting with special accommodations for Muslims that other groups do not get.
Dimwits @19,20: You progs gnash your teeth and scream bloody murder at even the slightest comingling of church and state, but in this case it is okie-dokie. Your double-secret hypocrisy, Orwellian speak is nauseating.
I am glad you guys are progs.
By the way, NightTrips offers two-fers on Tuesday nights…You two should go there.
As an experienced law enforcement commander my viewpoint is that both the Captain and the Chief could and should have stepped back a moment and then handled the issue much better. Police officers are frequently assigned to details they do not like or do not agree with.
The Captain is obligated to follow any legal order given by his superior. It sounds like the Chief thought initially the department could get some volunteers to attend a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” at the local mosque.
That did not happen for whatever reasons and the Chief noting the negative community relations possible ordered one of his captains to take care of the matter and further ensure some folks from every shift attend.
Regardless of whether ANY of those officers “liked” the assignment, it is immaterial to the lawful order given. The Captain and his selected subordinates are obligated to attend.
The Captain had an opportunity to make lemonade out of a lemon of an assignment. Further, his failure to follow lawful orders as he was he obliged to do set a poor example for his subordinates as well. He did not correctly lead by example.
There was no call for any law enforcement officers to “worship” at the mosque or participate in any activities of faith. As I understand the issue, a community organization, in this case a religious one offered to recognize and appreciate the work and dedication of the local police force.
Because of the poor response by a department staff officer, an opportunity to build better community relations between the local Muslim community and the police may have been lost, or at least made more distrustful and complex.
Had the Captain in this incident exercised better judgment, everyone could have benefitted from the community meeting. Building better relations in an effort to address crime and cultural issues is one of the parts at the heart of good police work.
If the officers attended and their commander found the event one of “police bashing” or proselytizing, the commander could have justified the field decision to cut the evening short for his agency AND made a formal report to the chief that night or the next day.
Again, I see this as poor judgment resulting in opportunities lost due to a failure to follow a lawful order. A police officer serves the entire community regardless of his personal views.
Another article I read on this issue described the activities scheduled at the local moslem house of whatever… worship of allah was definitely to be included, as were prayers to that false god. Further, a session of overt proselytising was scheduled. In other words, the chief, in ORDERING anyone to attend this event, was commanding men of faith such as this captain to go against their individual religious convictions…. that they worship no other gods but the God of the bible. Such an order IS unlawful.
You are playing right into the hands of the moslems who are totally dedicated to ruling the world. To force public employees to attend such a session of blatant religious exercies is wrong, and the cief had no authority to do so. Could he order any of his men to attend a Roman Catholic Mass? How about a mormon worship service? Seventh Day Advantist? Oh, maybe a Lutheran worship service…. no, none of his officers could legally be compelled to attend, much less participate in, any such event. This was not a neighbourhood koffee klatch down at the local mosque….. so, here is yet one more point of view…. the cief was wrong, the cop is right. I hope he sues and wins big time…. and that the chief gets taken down a few of his arrogant pegs of pride. The officer was right in refusing to violate his conscience. And the chief wrong for DEMANDING they do soo.
BS Pure, unadulterated BS.
There is NOTHING to be gained by kissing koranimal ass.
I haven’t seen mention of the fact that attendees to a mosque are required to remove their shoes as a sign of reverence to Allah. As a Christian, I would refuse to enter a mosque, and I fully support the captain for his decision.
Attendees at a synagogue are required to cover their heads as a sign of reverence to God. Would you, as a Christian, refuse to enter a synagogue?
If those who wished to, why not? I would. I have great respect for Jews and their beliefs. Mohammed can go to hell.
GM
Common sense should always prevail. What if the Muslims were scouting, just to see, how future assaults on Police Officers, gathered in large groups, (For Mass Murder), and planning to exterminate these Police Officers, or, for future reference, seeing just how many Police Officers would consent, and attend, so, in the future, they would have an idea, just how many Police Officers, in large groups, from many Cities across this Country, could be eradicated with just one quick sweep, (Beheaded, Blow up, Etc.). Capt. Fields, of the Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Dept., and other Subordinate Officers, were totally within their Constitutional Rights, with their decisions, rejecting their Chief’s demands. The Upper Brass was totally wrong, regarding this issue. To the Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Brass, I have a message, and a question: For the LOVE OF GOD, and the lives of the Officers under you, and their Families, would you force Capt. Fields, and other Officers, to enter a Mosque, knowing that these people have been killing Americans because the Koran says it is the will of Allah. Common sense dictates that you, Chief, should have the best interest of your Officers, at the forefront of your agenda, and Socializing in the Rear. How did you ever become Chief. The hard facts are, you need to be replaced. Cops are Cops, allow them to do what they do best, and if you can’t do that, at least, allow them to stay alive…
I think that the koran should be printed on a roll of paper that can conveniently be placed on a specially designed holder, for that purpose, and placed in an area of the home or office a person may be expected to sit quietly while meditating on the meaning of the koran.
Perhaps tissue paper would be the best medium as it does not take up much room.
Then verses of the koran could be peeled off, to cleanse the person before they go back out into the hustle bustle of the world they live in.
Every home and place of work should be so equipped with a special purpose room or in the case of the office same sex rooms with individual ‘privacy’ cubicles, especially designed with unique, islamic study chairs with form fitting posterior islamic comfort seats.
The rooms may also be equipped with sinks for the proper ritual cleansing of hands after handling the koran.
TPD was out of line in ordering Captain Fields to attend the meeting. And a CAIR/ISNA – affiliated mosque is suspicious. But Captain Fields was wrong to claim a religious objection. Indeed I would say he is hypocritical, because the CAIR/ISNA links he cited wouldn’t have any religious significance.
His entirely reasonable objection is to the mosque’s association with incitement of crime. That’s not just a Moslem issue. Here in Chicago, there are ministers who are known affiliates of major street gangs. For police to appear at an event sponsored by such a minister would be providing cover for the associated gang.
That’s a police policy and public safety issue. Captain Fields would be right to protest on that basis, and even to make his protest public if he felt strongly enough. In my opinion, he would be right, and the TPD is enslaved to political correctness.
But it’s not a religious issue.
This meeting may have included a prayer, but it was not a religious service, any more than a session of Congress is a religious service because it is opened with a prayer.
Suppose a Moslem officer died in the line of duty. Would Captain Fields refuse to represent the department at his funeral service, if it was held at a mosque?
Some people would. There is a Scottish Presbyterian sect that is fanatically anti-Catholic. One of their members was a Member of Parliament and a minister in the British government. He attended the funeral of a Cabinet colleague who was Catholic, and was expelled from the church.
Some Moslems would refuse to set foot in an Ahmaddiya mosque.
That sort of intolerance has no place in the U.S. and should not be allowed in a U.S. police department.